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Tiny steps

Many people have looked at the kaizen approach with disdain if they have experienced badly run improvement schemes at their place of work, but they are missing a trick if they do not consider the benefits of taking small steps.

When a large project or programme of improvement is broken down into the tiniest steps you find that the consumption of these steps becomes easier and easier. A certain level of discomfort is removed and then progress can start to be made.

This discomfort is often generated when large objectives are placed on the organisation - "how on Earth are we going to improve that much?" is a common thought - and then procrastination sets in.

If you find that your organisation is starting to struggle to make progress with improvement projects and it feels like you are going round in circles then consider breaking the start of the project down into really small chunks.

Let the people in the organisation complete the tiny chunks of work and then give them more and more tasks (in greater sizes) until they get the hang of the work and then take over the control of the project.

Smartspeed Consulting Limited
"For When Results Matter"
http://www.smartspeed.co.uk/
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